


The Huntsman's Wife

by i_amtheoutlaw



Series: Merthur Drabbles [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, Drabble, M/M, Merthur - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 19:36:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1829776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_amtheoutlaw/pseuds/i_amtheoutlaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During one of their normal hunting trip banters, Merlin accidentally let's it slip that he really thinks Arthur's bod is sexy. Merlin attempts escape, mumbling something about rabbits and stomping, only to be stopped by Arthur, who pulls him back, demanding answers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Huntsman's Wife

"Why do you insist on bringing me out here for days at a time again?" Merlin asks the prince, who's a couple feet in front of him, creeping through the forest.

"I didn't even ask you to come this time, Merlin," Arthur whispers.

Gwaine chuckles somewhere to the left of Merlin, surely ducked off into some bushes, looking equaling as simple as Arthur does right now, trying to creep through the forest without making a sound. Who does that? Honestly.

Leon, on the other hand, is just slightly in front of Merlin, and to the right a bit, looking equally, if not twenty times more, simpler than the other two do. But he's also giving Arthur a very knowing--and disapproving--arched brow. Merlin's guessing it's because the knight must have heard Arthur 'not asking Merlin to come' this morning.

Leon did hear Arthur's um, well. Let's say . . . Proposition, which was: you can either hurry up and get your arse on this horse, or I will drag you down to the stocks myself. Then you can wait there until I get back.

"Yeah. You demanded," Merlin replies, saying exactly what the knight had been thinking.

Arthur ignores him, and silence fills the space around them again. Well, besides Merlin's completely graceless and utterly obnoxious footsteps, that is.

A bit later, Merlin breaks the silence with a loud slap to his neck, and the declaration of, "you know I'm bloody allergic to this damn midge gnats. Now is not the season to be hunting, Arthur!"

This isn't true. At all. Merlin's not really allergic to anything. He's starting to think his magic just sort of absorbs most everything that happens to him anyway, even the food he eats and the wounds he gets. Because, well. Merlin used to blame his skinny frame on the food choice in Ealdor, but he's been stealing off Arthur's silver platter for quite some time now and he's yet to gain a thing. Arthur, though, he's allergic to midge gnats like no other (and like everything else, but Merlin won't get into that right now). The blonde's bite wounds swell to the size of bloody gold coins and, of course, Merlin has to deal with the prince whining and scratching for days afterwards.

"Complaining about the culicis again are we?" Arthur deadpans and Merlin seriously considers dropping all the stupid camping equipment he's holding and using his hands to rip out his own hair instead.

"Worrying about all the scars I'm gonna have from scratching," Merlin replies, his toned clipped.

Gwaine laughs aloud at this, and announces, "cut the act you two. We all hear you nagging Arthur to stop scratching, Merlin. How could we not, it goes on for days!"

Merlin purses his lips and Arthur laughs.

"It's not funny, princess," Gwaine starts as he pops out from a few bushes that Merlin definitely hadn't thought could hide a full grown man, but apparently Gwaine's more cat like than Merlin gives him credit for (it's not Merlin's fault that the knight is forever stalking around drunken and clumsy, making everyone in the kingdom wonder how he could have possibly been knighted). "Merlin's just looking out for your hot little prince bod. You're going to be king soon, you know, gotta be the fittest in the land and all."

"Exactly!" Merlin agrees quickly, not thinking over the implements of his words, "I don't actually think that's a requirement, though--"

"So," Arthur starts, cutting Merlin off mid-sentence by dropping his signature hunting creep and swiveling around, "you think I have a hot little prince bod then?"

Arthur's smirk is outrageously cocky and Merlin can basically feel the victory radiating from the prince. It makes Merlin a little dumbfounded.

"I thought you thought I was fat?" Arthur asks, full out smiling now.

"I never said that," Merlin instantly points out, "all I said was that there is a fine line between fat and skinny and you're eating on it."

Arthur instantly frowns, and Merlin realizes that the prince actually looks a bit hurt.

"Look, it's like Gwaine said, I wash your greasy hair so it will be all blond and shiny, I rub down your muscles so you don't walk like you've been training for the last twenty years, I sand down all your nasty calluses so you won't gross out all the fair maidens, and I make sure you don't eat too much and transform into a fat cow," Merlin finishes with grin, and as an afterthought he adds, "besides that's like a perk compared to mucking out the stables and--"

"So," Arthur cuts Merlin off yet again, "rubbing me down is a perk, yeah?"

"I never--" Merlin huffs. "I mean--that's not--" Merlin takes a step back. "I don't like--do it for me--"

Merlin's forced to take another three steps back as Arthur stalks forward, looking to crowd Merlin's personal space.

"Right," Merlin all but chokes out, trying to flee the scene, "I'll just go um. Over there. Rabbits and you know. Stomping and um--"

Merlin cuts himself off this time by sucking in a sharp breath as Arthur yanks him by the collar of his tunic and pulls him back.

"You're like my wife," Arthur declares, and Merlin's surprised to find the prince looking genuinely confused. Merlin was definitely expecting prat face number seventeen.

All Merlin can do is nod.

"And you like being my wife?" Arthur asks, slowly, still looking unsure.

Merlin nods again, equally as slow. "I. Um. Guess it's not that bad."

A full grin breaks across Arthur's face, "really? Because that's like, the best news I've had all year, Merlin."


End file.
